Nina receives a magic bottle from a mysterious old bag lady and is whisked away to another land where she:

meets talking animals,

visits a church that isn’t a church,

speaks to a tornado,

goes to a Satanic circus,

tours Heaven and Hell,

has incredible visions,

and learns the truth behind what UFOs really are.

As you can see, there is a lot going on in Revival, and it is an interesting story, but for all the plot elements, it doesn’t read like a novel. Most of the book is dialogue or scene description with virtually no action sequences. That’s not bad. It’s just not something that most people are going to want to sit down and read for long periods of time. I found that if I treated the book more like a devotional, it was a lot better.

The authors provide a lot of Scripture and really have some very good insights and explanations into the spiritual realm. Much of it is solid Biblically, but of course, there’s a good bit of imagination and fiction-writing as well. Also, the authors include some theology and their own views that certainly not all Christians will agree with.

Aesthetically, I really like the illustrations included in the book. Unfortunately, the script suffers from a lack of quality editing. Most readers are sure to spot quite a few grammatical mistakes.

Overall, though, I’m giving Revival a recommendation of Excellent. It’s not a book for everyone, but if you’re looking for a spiritual journey story, Revival is one of the most imaginative to come out for years.

An alien ship has crash-landed on Earth, setting off a new wave of drug addiction and world war in its wake, while the sole survivor of the wreckage vows revenge against the god-like authorities of his home planet. At the same time, the new president of the GenRes Company is obsessed with living up to his father’s medical success and has just discovered how to transform normal children into Genetically Altered super-humans. Who will control these children? The scientist, the alien, and a couple of ambitious criminals are all eager to keep them for their own use. But Someone else has entirely different plans for them. Follow as each development merges together and a new breed of adolescent superheroes rises to the forefront in book one of The Gifted: In the Beginning.